"Dean, I'm here, I'm here!"
"Is there something good?"
Oscar heard the voices and quickly ran onto the practice field.
Flender also withdrew his Martial Soul Avatar and landed on the ground.
Squeak, squeak, squeak~
Flender casually tossed the Stink Rat onto the ground, too.
All four of the Stink Rat's limbs had been broken by Flender. It struggled, but couldn't get away, and could only roll around on the ground.
"This is a Soul Beast?"
When Oscar came over and saw the Stink Rat on the ground, his eyes immediately lit up.
By now, he knew how rare Soul Beasts were. So even a newly awakened Soul Beast was exceptionally precious—something one could only hope to encounter, not seek out.
"Dean, this Soul Beast is for me, right?"
Oscar looked at Flender in delight and asked.
He had long been impatient to become a three-ring Soul Elder.
As for the quality of the Soul Ring and the Soul Skill, he didn't want to think about it anymore.
In this era, when Soul Beasts were going extinct, being able to get one and gain a Soul Ring was already good enough. What more could he ask for?
Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun also came onto the practice field.
They were surprised to see that Flender had actually brought back a Soul Beast.
"That's right. I snatched this one from a group of Soul Masters with great difficulty!"
"With this Soul Beast, Oscar, you'll be able to advance."
"Come on, hurry up and kill it, then absorb its Soul Ring!"
Flender looked smug, as if to say that he was still a very capable dean.
"Okay, Dean! Dean, you're mighty and domineering!"
Oscar cheered, then walked over to the Stink Rat with a dagger in hand.
"Yueh~!"
Oscar had just crouched down, ready to finish it off with one stab, when the stench rising from the Stink Rat nearly made him throw up.
Pfft~
In the past, if he'd come across a Soul Beast like this, he wouldn't even have spared it a glance, for fear of dirtying his eyes or polluting the air he breathed.
But he had no choice now. Oscar could only hold his breath and stab the Stink Rat to death.
Buzz—
Soon, a white Soul Ring appeared above the Stink Rat's corpse.
Compared to the usual white Soul Rings, this one was much paler, almost transparent.
It seemed as if it could vanish at any moment.
"Oscar, hurry!"
"The Soul Rings dropped by Soul Beasts that have just awakened their Soul Power are very unstable. They could disappear at any moment."
"I once saw a Soul Ring vanish in less than ten seconds!"
Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang hurriedly stepped forward to warn Oscar.
Flender and the others were surprised to hear this. They hadn't expected such a thing to happen.
"Got it, Grandmaster!"
Oscar answered. He didn't dare dawdle. He didn't even have time to move the Stink Rat's corpse aside before sitting cross-legged and beginning to absorb the Soul Ring.
Buzz—
In an instant, the white Soul Ring was absorbed into Oscar's body.
Seeing that Oscar had absorbed it, Flender and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it hadn't disappeared.
Catching a Soul Beast was no easy task nowadays.
"Boss Dai, are we only going to be able to absorb Soul Rings of this quality from now on?"
Standing beside Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun watched Oscar successfully absorb the Soul Ring. He was happy for Oscar, but also felt a hard-to-describe sense of dejection.
The thought that, when he broke through to the next level, he'd only be able to absorb Soul Rings with no quality whatsoever made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
"What else?"
"Can you find the Soul Beasts we used to have?"
Dai Mubai sounded helpless, too. It wasn't his turn yet, but when he broke through to level forty, the only Soul Ring he could choose would be one like the one Oscar had absorbed—a one-year Soul Ring.
And even finding one to snatch wasn't guaranteed.
According to Yu Xiaogang, there were so many plants and animals that many Soul Beasts should awaken every day. But they didn't.
As far as anyone knew, there were very, very few.
There was no fooling anyone about this. If those Soul Masters had managed to snatch one, it would show when they used their Martial Souls.
Flender had managed to snatch one so quickly, which had already surprised him.
"Our Martial Souls all evolved through generations of our ancestors absorbing Soul Rings. But by the time it's our turn, the Soul Rings we absorb definitely won't be able to make them evolve anymore!"
"Will the quality of Martial Souls on the continent keep getting lower in the future?"
"If things go on like this, the Soul Masters of the continent are finished!"
Ma Hongjun looked deeply troubled.
Zhu Zhuqing glanced at the chubby boy beside her in surprise. She hadn't expected him to think so far ahead.
"Fatty's concerns are well-founded."
"If Soul Masters only absorb one-year Soul Rings to break through, then the traditional way of cultivating as a Soul Master will surely decline in the future."
Yu Xiaogang had already decided to abandon Martial Soul cultivation and pursue the new path he believed in. So he had no qualms about disparaging the traditional path of Soul Master cultivation.
He truly believed that, too.
Unless traditional Soul Masters could obtain Soul Rings from somewhere else, their path was bound to decline.
After hearing Yu Xiaogang's words, everyone present looked troubled.
Buzz—
Just then, Oscar finished absorbing the Soul Ring.
It had taken less than ten seconds from start to finish. It was incredibly fast.
But that was only to be expected. After all, he had absorbed a one-year Soul Beast that had only just awakened its Soul Power.
"I broke through! I'm finally a three-ring Soul Elder!"
Oscar stood up and released the Soul Rings around him.
Two yellow Soul Rings and one white one circled him.
"Oscar, what's your Third Soul Skill?"
"Quick, see if a one-year Soul Ring can give you a good Soul Skill."
Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang hurriedly pressed him.
He was very curious to know what kind of Soul Skill traditional Soul Masters could produce by absorbing such a trash Soul Ring.
"I Have a Stinky Sausage!"
Oscar's expression turned strange as he said the incantation for using his Soul Skill and conjured a sausage wreathed in purplish-black fumes.
Not only that, the sausage gave off a powerful stench, even worse than the smell of the Stink Rat.
"Ugh~"
"It stinks~"
"That smells worse than shit!"
At the smell of the Stinky Sausage, everyone pinched their noses and looked disgusted.
"Ugh~"
Oscar himself couldn't help retching. He nearly threw the sausage in his hand away.
"Ahem, Oscar, why don't you tell us what this Stinky Sausage does first?"
Yu Xiaogang pinched his nose and asked.
"I... I don't know either..."
Oscar shook his head blankly. He really had no idea what the sausage in his hand did. When he used his Soul Skill, he hadn't received any feedback.
"That can happen, too. Then we'll just have to try it!"
Yu Xiaogang continued to pinch his nose as he calmly analyzed the situation.
"Ah..."
"I... I'm the one who has to eat it?"
Oscar's face froze.